Franz Ferdinand,
eldest son of Carl Ludwig, the brother of emperor Franz Josef of
Austria-Hungary, was born in 1863. Educated by private tutors, he joined
the Austro-Hungarian army in 1883. While in the army Franz Ferdinand
received several promotions: captain (1885), major (1888), colonel
(1890) and general (1896).

In 1889, crown
prince Rudolf, the son of Franz Josef, shot himself at his hunting
lodge. The succession now passed to Franz Ferdinand's father, Carl
Ludwig. When he died in 1896, Franz Ferdinand became the new heir to the
throne.

Franz Ferdinand married Sophie von Hohenberg in 1889 and over the next
few years the couple had three children: Sophie (1901), Maximilian
(1902) and Ernst (1904).

In 1913 Franz
Ferdinand was appointed Inspector General of the Austro-Hungarian army.
In the summer of 1914 General Oskar Potiorek, governor of the Austrian
provinces of Bosnia-Herzegovina, invited the Inspector to watch his
troops on maneuvers, Although he knew it would be dangerous, Franz
Ferdinand agreed to make the visit.

In
Bosnia-Herzegovina there was a group called "The Black Hand"
who wanted to leave the Austro-Hungarian Empire and

favoured an union
with Serbia. When it was announced that Franz Ferdinand was going to
visit Bosnia in June 1914, the "Black Hand" began to make
plans to assassinate the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne.
June 28, 1914 at 10.10 when the 6 car procession passed the central
police station, Nedjelko Cabrinovic hurled a handgrenade at the
archduke's car. The driver accelerated and the grenade exploded under
the wheel of the next car. Two of the occupants were seriously wounded.
Franz Ferdinand's driver, Franz Urban, drove on extremely fast and other
members of the "Black Hand" were unable to fire their guns or
hurl their bombs at the archduke's car.

After attending
the official reception at the City Hall, Franz Ferdinand asked about the
members of his party that had been wounded by the bomb and he insisted
to be taken to the hospital to see them.
In order to avoid the city centre, general Oskar Potiorek decided that
the royal car should travel straight along the Appel Quay to the
Sarajevo hospital. The driver, Franz Urban, was not told about this
decision and he took the wrong route.
Potiorek shouted: "This is the wrong way, we're supposed to take
the Appel Quay".

The driver put his
foot on the break and began to back up. In doing so, he moved slowly
past the waiting Gavrilo Prinzip. The assassin stepped forward,
drew his gun, and at a distance of about five feet, fired several times
on and into the car. Franz Ferdinand was hit in the neck and Sophie von
Hohenberg in the abdomen. Franz Urban drove the couple to Konak, the
governor's residence, but although both were still alive when they
arrived, they died from their wounds soon afterwards.
(source: The
Spartacus Encyclopedia)

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